Rentboy.com offices raided

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 1:09pm

Your tax dollar at work:

http://abc7ny.com/news/rentboycom-offices-raided-7-arrested-in-prostitution-bust/956279/

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 1:13pm

Oh my, where is the GOP going to get dates now?

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 1:32pm

"Authorities said the site operated as a male prostitution ring, cutting out the middle man."

 

Didn't the middle man just cost extra?!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 1:51pm

They're shocked, SHOCKED to find that it a website was being used for sexual purposes.  For money yet.

"Accidental" "leak" of selected client information in 10, 9, 8, 7....

[Huss417]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 2:00pm

I do agree. Client information is coming. No pun. :)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 2:47pm

The site doesn't have client information.  It does have the advertiser's info.  

 

And this country supposedly is all about entrepreneurs.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 2:58pm

 

I didn't know they laundered money there.

 

[Wildcard]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:03pm

Another reason why prostitution should be legalized. They only raided the office because they weren't getting a cut from the advertisers' income. 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:09pm

Wildcard said: "Another reason why prostitution should be legalized. They only raided the office because they weren't getting a cut from the advertisers' income. 

 

^ ^ THIS. They've been in operation for nearly 20 years and now they decide to raid it? What the hell did they think Rentboy.com meant?

 

"

 

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 5:03pm

If you want to read an investigator try to establish a prostitution case, by slowly unpacking gay slang in legalese, here you go:

 

http://www.towleroad.com/2015/08/read-the-criminal-complaint-against-rentboy-com/

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 5:09pm

Yeah, that elegant moniker is so subtle, bespeaking the ambiance of a private gentleman's club in existence only for heady chatter about leather bound books among the like-minded literati, it took two decades to untangle its intricately worked out coding.  I see an Oscar nominated film on that 20 year journey toward uncovering and explicating the shocking secret mission.  The ad campaign writes itself:  "Who knew?" 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 5:30pm

NBC is reporting that it was raided due to evidence they had been money laundering $10 million. I am sure that will come out as plea deals are made. I have to say that criminal complaint was a fun read!

Unfortunately a few people I know (no I was not a client) will be looking for work.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 5:55pm

Where else will married men turn to for sex now--back to ads. for  'massage to relieve your aching muscles'.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:00pm

"M4M massage, full bodied, nude. Release your tension."

[SweetLips]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:12pm

Thanks--will check it out..x was just told about c....glist--my goodness--what an education !

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:21pm

when they came for the Hooker's

i said nothing because i was not A hooker

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:32pm

I don't think the Rent Boys themselves will be targeted. There is no paper trail with a cash and carry business. It will be RENTBOY.com that gets it's ass handed to them. The massage sites are hunkering down preparing for an onslaught and very possibly setting up stricker advertizing guidelines.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:37pm

I don't know how the Feds are going to be able to resist. I predict deportations of any travelers here who were making money doing sex work if they now have their real names along with their photos. I think the IRS might get involved.  Depends on how Puritan things have to get before the big election. 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:55pm

Yes, they will have their real names, addresses, in some cases though not their pictures. Sure they put ads up but how will they track if they actually had any clients? I can see it happening had the clients booked the "talent through the site and there was some sort of record that Milton Milelong had 75 customers in 2014 but there isn't. The Mayflower Madam got busted but did we hear much about the girls working for her getting targeted? I am not saying they were or weren't but just questioning.

 

Updated On: 8/25/15 at 06:55 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 7:02pm

Well, I've heard of border agents using facial recognition software alone to turn back High profile European escorts at the border. I think the money laundering thing is just something they're saying. It's all about tge prostitution in the complaint. 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 7:23pm

Yes, the foreign escorts may have a problem. I am sure a lot of them made a small fortune, tax free, during stays in NYC or Los Angeles and then return home.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 7:47pm

FindingNamo said: " before the big election. 

Are you sure you used the correct word ?

 

"

 

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 3:22pm

From Justin Vivian Bond's Facebook, after being asked by the New York Times to share her thoughts on the issue:
 

I think that to many in our community this feels like a throwback to when the police raided gay bars in the 50s and 60s. Despite the salaciousness of the language in the complaint I don't ...think the charges will stick because basically the site provides a forum for people to meet and make personal arrangements on their own. Rentboy.com may be a provocative title but sexy, fun language is not illegal. This invasion of a consensual hook-up site which is run for and by members of the LGBT community feels like a real slap in the face after gentrification, and the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations drove so many NYC gay bars out of business and forced people to meet online instead of in person.

Also, if the people who register with Rentboy.com are trading sexual encounters for money they are doing so on their own terms, with agency, and presumably without being coerced by outside forces other than the need to earn a living in a difficult economic climate. Sex workers in our culture need to be protected, respected and applauded not harassed and shamed.

Because of this raid 1,000s of independent workers worldwide will not be able to pay their rent this month and they are concerned about what this means for their safety and legal protection. There is a movement happening and many organizations creating Know Your Rights seminars this week. This is about workers' rights--labor rights and equal protections for all kinds of workers without basic access to legal and healthcare support because they are deemed criminals or denied access to banking, housing or Facebook, in all sectors of the Adult industry, not just escorts. It's about sex phobia and public shaming. Sex workers are strong and have organizations like Urban Justice Center and SWOP Sex Workers Outreach Project whom you might want to reach out to.

Mainly, I feel that this is a perfect example of the hypocrisy of mainstream patriarchal culture and the government. Queer people are now invited to join in the systems of oppression -i.e. the military and marriage- that straight people have supported and engaged in for years but when it comes to freedom of choice as to what to do with our bodies women and the LGBT Community are still being exploited by the government and power hungry individuals for the purposes of financial gain and career advancement. I mean, is this really a "Homeland Security Issue?" I don't think so. A gay man in Brooklyn who happens to have a "rimchair" is hardly the equivalent of someone on a commuter train with an AK-47. Years of undercover work and untold amounts of city and federal taxpayer dollars were spent on this this undercover sting operation and who was being harmed? Nobody.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 3:43pm

Do these rent boys ever use their client lists as political leverage -- "Oh Senator, I just had a visit from the FBI...."

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 3:56pm

Interesting...


http://www.newnownext.com/feds-raided-rentboy-com-because-washington-insiders-fear-being-outed-as-escort-users-sources-claim/08/2015/

Updated On: 8/26/15 at 03:56 PM